ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The nearly 155,000 convenience stores in the United States contribute or collect $1.03 billion to charities annually, according to a national survey of retailers by NACS.
Overall, 95% of c-stores support charitable causes, with 66% of these stores supporting five or more charitable causes, NACS found. Ninety-one percent of all c-stores support local charities such as church groups, shelters, food banks and other nonsports groups, while 47% also support national charities, 76% contribute to youth sports groups and 69% contribute to local schools via PTAs and other fundraising activities.
C-stores are also known to contribute to local charities during specific times of need: Four in 5 c-store companies (75%) say they’ve made donations when there was a specific emergency or crisis in the community.
- For examples of charitable giving by c-stores, click here.
The median charitable contribution per store is $3,925 in direct contributions and $3,054 in donations collected, NACS said.
“We often say in our industry that ‘c-store’ doesn’t just stand for convenience store; it stands for community store, and these results clearly demonstrate the commitment our industry has to the communities they serve,” said Jeff Lenard, NACS' vice president of strategic industry initiatives.
Convenience retailers also said their locations make them convenient places for groups to hold events, with 61% allowing their property to be used by local groups for fundraising events, including car washes, cookie sales or direct fundraising. More than 3 in 4 retailers (76%) also say they make local product and food donations to food banks and other groups to support those in need; of this group, 67% donate food and 76% donate beverages, NACS found.
A total of 90 NACS retail member companies participated in the association’s Q4 2018 Retailer Sentiment Survey that featured questions about charitable giving. Alexandria, Va.-based NACS has 2,100 retailer and 1,750 supplier member companies from more than 50 countries.
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